Hopper construction for grain drills



H. B. BOZARD.

HOPPER CONSTRUCTION FOR GRAIN DRILLS. APPLlCATlON FILED JUNE 26,1919.

1,404, 5 1 Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

PM '10 N N g} ErPiS OTLB.BO5 By UNITED s'rArgs PATENT OFFICE.

HARRISON R. BozARn, or HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, To INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLI- NOIs,A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY.

HOPPER CONSTRUCTION FOR GRAIN DRILLS.

Application filed June 26, 1919.

To (ZZZ wiwmit may Concern:

Be it known that I, HARRISON B. BozARn, a'citizen or" the United States,residing at Hamilton, in the county of Wentworth and Province ofOntario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and usefulImprovement in Hopper Constructions for Grain Drills, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to grain drills and like machines, and moreparticularly to the hopper construction of machines of this character.

hen grain drills are manufactured for foreign shipment it is veryessential that they be so designed as to occupy a minimum amount ofspace in shipment. It is also de sirable that the manufacture ofdifferent types of hoppers and drills be made as nearly uniform aspossible so that many of the same parts may be used in the differenttypes. It is also desirable that the hoppers be so designed that theymay be shipped knock down and that the means for securing the variousparts together when they are assembled, be of such a nature that theparts may be easily and quickly assembled and will be held rigidlytogether and will not become loosened through use.

Having these ends in view, the present invention has for its object toprovide a grain drill, construction which will be rigid and may beeasily assembled and taken apart, and a construction of hopper whichwill be tight, preventing loss of seeds.

A further object is to provide a construction. which will occupy aminimum amount of space when the parts are shipped knock down.

The Construction by means of which these objects are attained comprises,briefly, a hopper having side members and a bottom plate, the bottomplate being securely bolted to the side members and being adapted to fiteither wood or steel side members, feeding mechanism secured to saidbottom plate, the securing means being shielded from contact with theseeds by means of suitable lining plates.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a sectional view of myimproved hop er con- Struction;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the construction Shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

Serial No. 306,960.

showingthe steel side members and the bottom plates ecured thereto;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of one of the lining plates; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a brace member used in connection with the sidemembers.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the side members 10 (in thisinstance formed of wood), are secured to the steel bottom plate 11 bymeans of bolts 12. It is very desirable that bolts be used as thesecuring means rather than wood screws, since the wood screws are apt tobecome loose, thereby preventing the rigid connection between thevarious parts of the hopper.

The steel bottom plate 11 is flat and has its opposite edges turned upto form inclined attaching flanges and is provided with a feed opening12 and with elongated slots 13, the seed distributing cups or feedingmechanism 14 being secured to the plate 11 by means of bolts 15 whichpass through the slots 13 in the plate 11 and secure the feedingmechanism in the desired position of adjustment. The usual fluted feedwheel 16 is illustrated, but any other desired feeding mechanism may beemployed. Usually, the bottom plate carries a series of feedingmechanism spaced throughout the length of the plate, as indicated byFig. 2.

From the showing in Fig. 1 it will be seen that the heads of the bolts15 are disposed below the lower edge of the side members 10. and inorder to prevent the seed from coming in contact with the heads of thebolts or from passing into recesses formed between the plate 11 and thelower edges of the side members 10, I have provided elongated liningplates 17. These plates are secured to the side members 10 by means ofthe bolts 12 above mentioned, and in order to increase the rigidity ofthe structure I have also provided a series of steel straps 18 which areSecured to the side members 10 by bolts 19 and also by the bolts 12above mentioned. The lining plates 17 extend downwardly into contactwith the upper surface of the plate 11, and thereby effectively preventany of the seed from passing into the recesses in which the heads of thebolts 15 are located. Slots 17 are provided in the plates 17 to permitof the adjustment of these plates so that the plates may be moved intoengagement with the upper surface of the plate 11.

In Figure 3 the construction is similar to that shown in Fig. 1, but theside members 10 in this instance are formed of sheet steel and aresecured to the bottom plate 11, which is exactly similar to that shownin Fig. 1, by means of bolts 20. The bolts for securing the bottom plate11 to the feeding mechareadily seen that a simple and efficientconstruction has been provided, and a construction in which the variousparts may be easily and quickly assembled and taken apart. Attention isalso called to the fact that the securing means for rigidly connectingthe feeding mechanism to the base plate of the hopper is shielded fromthe contents of the hopper, thereby preventing loss of seed and alsoassuring the feeding of all the seed in the hopper.

As above pointed out, the use of bolts for securing the various partstogether is particularly desirable, both on account of the ease withwhich the parts may be assembled andtaken apart, and on account of therigidity of the construction when assembled. v

While I have in the above specification described certain specificembodiments of the invention, it should be understood thatl do notintend to limit myself to the particular constructions illustrated, butthat modifications and changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as expressed by the following claims:

1. A grain drill hopper including a flat bottom plate having upwardlyturned edges,

side pieces removably secured to the inner sides of said edges, andlining plates secured to the lower portions of the side members withtheir lower edges in contact with the bottom plate.

2. A grain drill hopper including a flat bottom plate having upwardlyinclined attaching flanges, side pieces on the inner sides of saidflanges, lining plates on the side pieces with their lower edges incontact with the bottom plate, and single fastening elements uniting theflanges, side pieces and lining plates.

A grain drill hopper including a flat bottom plate, upwardly inclined.attaching flanges on the edges of the bottom plate, side pieces securedto the attaching flanges with -their lower edges spaced from the bottomplate, and lining plates secured to the side pieces and extendingdownwardly into contact with the bottom plate.

i. A grain drill hopper including a flat bottom plate, upwardly inclinedattaching flanges on the edges of the bottom plate, side pieces securedto the inner sides of said flanges with theirlower edges spaced from thebottom plate, lining plates secured to the sidepieces and extendingdownwardly into contact with the bottom plate, and a feeding devicesecured beneath the bottom plate by fastening elements which penetratethe bottom plate back otthe lining plates.

5. A grain drill hopper including a fiat bottom plate with its edgesbent upwardly to form attaching flanges, side pieces on the inner sidesor said flanges with their lower edges spaced from the bottom plate,lining plates'on the side pieces with their lower edges in contact withthe bottom plate, single fastening elements uniting the flanges, sidepieces and lining plates, and a feeding device secured beneath thebottom plate by fastening elements which penetrate the bottom plate backof the lining plate.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HARRISON B. BOZARD. Witnesses:

Lns'rnn S. MAY, J. BARNES.

